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A ruthless landlord, a good
friend of Mugabe - and a killer

The Times, UK December 20, 2005

††††††††††† By Steve Bird†††††††††††
Nicholas van Hoogstraten was cleared of manslaughter in the criminal
courtsbut his victim's family persisted with a civil case that has
undermined the ruling

††††††††††† THE property baron who
revelled in his reputation as a ruthless businessman was declared a murderer
by a High Court judge yesterday for his part in the killing of a
rival.

††††††††††† The landmark legal ruling against Nicholas van
Hoogstraten came despite the multi-millionaire being cleared of the
manslaughter of Mohammed Raja in the criminal courts.

††††††††††† Mr
van Hoogstraten, who was not in court, said last night that the case had
been a time wasting exercise. He said: "If I wanted to get this guy bumped
off don't you think I would have made a better job of it?" Mr Justice
Lightman said that the tycoon had "recruited two highly dangerous" henchmen
to kill Mr Raja six years ago. The killing was aimed at stopping Mr Raja, a
businessman who refused to give into his tormentor's threats, from suing him
over a business deal.

††††††††††† Although Mr van Hoogstraten faces
paying compensation, he will not go to jail because the ruling has come from
a civil court, not a criminal one.

††††††††††† In the climax to a £6
million legal battle during which Mr Raja's family tried to prove that Mr
van Hoogstraten was a "psychopath", the dead man's relatives praised the
judgment, saying that it had been a devastating struggle.

†††††††††††
Mr Raja, 62, was stabbed five times and shot at point blank range after
answering the doorbell at his home in Sutton, South London, in July 1999.
His killers, Robert Knapp, 57, and David Croke, 62, are serving life for the
murder.

††††††††††† Mr van Hoogstraten, 60, was sentenced to ten years at
the Old Bailey in 2002 for manslaughter but his conviction was later quashed
by the Court of Appeal because the original trial judge had misdirected the
jury on the law governing manslaughter.

††††††††††† The court held
that he had failed to give them proper guidance over the need to be sure
that Mr van Hoogstraten envisaged and foresaw the use of a loaded firearm by
Croke and Knapp when they visited Mr Raja's home. He spent 17 months in
prison.

††††††††††† But Mr Justice Lightman said yesterday that he
reached the conclusion that Mr van Hoogstraten had ordered the killing "on
the balance of probabilities", the civil law standard of proof, "and indeed
if it were necessary, beyond reasonable doubt", the standard required in
criminal law.

††††††††††† He said that Mr van Hoogstraten had even
boasted of killing his rival and threatened to repeat his actions if anyone
else stood in his way.

††††††††††† The murder of Mr Raja had all "the
hallmarks of a contract killing by hit men" and there was no evidence that
anyone other than Mr van Hoogstraten had any motive.

††††††††††† The
killers fired two shots at their victim, the first missed and the second was
fatal.

††††††††††† "I am satisfied that the recruitment of the two thugs
was for the purpose of murdering Mr Raja and not merely frightening or
hurting him," the judge said. "The use of two violent thugs armed with a
shotgun was more than was needed to frighten or injure him. The second shot
was deliberately aimed at killing him.

††††††††††† "Mr Raja had at
all times shown himself resilient, ready to resist threats and to complain
to the police. Nothing less than murder would rid Mr van Hoogstraten of this
thorn in his flesh."

The judge said: "Mr van Hoogstraten's purpose in
murdering Mr Raja has not been achieved because, contrary to his
expectations, Mr Raja's family have been as resilient as was Mr Raja in his
lifetime in standing up to Mr van Hoogstraten."

Speaking on the steps
of the High Court in London, Mr Raja's family said: "Naturally, we are very
pleased with the court's findings, but it has been a devastating and uphill
struggle to get here."

Mr van Hoogstraten speaking from the
Courtland's Hotel in Brighton which he owns, said last night: "This verdict
is based on the conviction of two other people. It ignores the fact that
they are going back to the Court of Appeal to have their convictions set
aside. It's not if, it's when that happens.

"If I wanted to get this guy
bumped off don't you think I would have made a better job of it? I wouldn't
have used one of my own tenants, it would have been cleanly done with no way
it could be traced back to me."

The judgment will only add to the
businessman's brutal reputation. Known as Mr H, he revels in his merciless
reputation: his tenants are "filth", ramblers trying to gain access to his
land are "riffraff" and "nosy †perverts" and he openly admits that his
politics are "to the right of Attila the Hun".

He has admitted
exacting retribution, but always ensures that "the punishment fits the
crime". Estimated to be worth about £500 million, he has made much of his
wealth in Zimbabwe where he is one of the largest landowners.

He
counts President Mugabe as a friend and praises him for being a "decent and
incorruptible" politician.

When Mr van Hoogstraten was released from jail
after his conviction for manslaughter, it was Mr Mugabe who was one of the
first to congratulate him for securing his freedom.

In recent years,
the businessman became obsessed with Hamilton Palace, his neo-classical,
copper-domed mansion in Uckfield, East Sussex. At an estimated cost of £40
million, it is believed to be one of the most expensive homes built in the
last century.

It is bigger than Buckingham Palace and has Louis XV
furniture, a Holbein painting, a 600ft art gallery and a mausoleum designed
to hold Mr van Hoogstraten's body after death for 5,000 years.

Born
in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, Mr van Hoogstraten's father, Charles was a
brutal and dominating figure who was away for long periods.

Mr van
Hoogstraten described his mother Edna as a "whining cow" whom he "clipped
around the ear".

At the age of nine, he bought and sold postage stamps at
his school before selling them to professional stamp dealers.

By 18,
he had bought his first hotel in Bermuda, before returning to England,
buying six properties London, and then investing in the housing market in
his home county. At 22, he announced that he was Britain's youngest
self-made millionaire and celebrated by putting 'van' in his name.

But
behind his image as a respectable entrepreneur, lay the sinister methods he
used to amass his millions.

††††††††††† He was convicted of malicious
damage and demanding £2,000 with menaces after a grenade exploded at the
home of the father of a business partner whom he had accused of stealing
stock. The judge condemned him as arrogant, a bully and someone "who thinks
he is an emissary of Beelzebub".

††††††††††† When his sentence was cut
from nine to five years, an Appeal Court judge said that he would grow out
of his menacing ways. However despite amassing a fortune in the property
boom of the 1980s, tenants complained of being threatened, one said that he
was knifed, and Mr van Hoogstraten was accused of cutting off heat and
lighting to an old people's home.

††††††††††† In 1972 he was
convicted of corrupting a prison officer.

††††††††††† Three years ago he
was fined £1,500 for contempt of court for telling a barrister: "You dirty
bastard . . . in due course, you are going to have it."

†††††††††††
When interviewed about the murder, Mr van Hoogstraten volunteered the
statement that he could not understand how the attackers missed with their
first shot, the judge said.

††††††††††† Peter Irvin, for the Raja family,
told the judge: "Your judgment shows Mr van Hoogstraten to be a cowardly and
murderous thug who will stop at nothing to preserve his miser's
hoard."

††††††††††† The judge ordered Mr van Hoogstraten to pay £500,000
interim costs on an "indemnity" basis - the highest scale of costs and often
regarded as punitive - within two weeks.

††††††††††† The lawsuit
against Mr van Hoogstraten returns to court for a procedural hearing next
month. The judge aims to conclude the entire case by the end of
February.

††††††††††† A FAMILY'S FIGHT

††††††††††† July 2, 1999:
Mohammed Raja, 62, is stabbed and shot at his home in
Sutton

††††††††††† July 19, 2002: Robert Knapp and David Croke are
convicted of murder

††††††††††† July 22, 2002: Mr van Hoogstraten is
cleared of murder, but found guilty of manslaughter. He is jailed for ten
years in October

††††††††††† December 12, 2002: Mr Raja's family wins £5
million in a suit by Mr Raja against Mr Hoogstraten

††††††††††† July
23, 2003: The Court of Appeal quashes the manslaughter conviction. It orders
a retrial

††††††††††† December 8, 2003: The Appeal Court rules there is
no foundation for a manslaughter case. Mr van Hoogstraten is freed; the
prosecution drops its case

††††† November 23, 2005: A civil case
brought by the family of Mr Raja begins at the High Court

†††††
December 19, 2005: The High Court holds Mr Hoogstraten responsible for the
death of Mr Raja

UN Says Famine in Southern Africa Averted

Officials
from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Food
Program say enough food has been delivered to avert famine in southern
Africa.

Michael Hess of the USAID says the food situation in southern
Africa is always precarious. "As you all know this chronic situation in
southern Africa, lot's of complications that have to do with chronic poverty
and AIDS that's endemic in this part of the world that leads to serious
problems almost every year," he said.

Mr. Hess says USAID and
WFP were able to get food aid to six southern African nations in a timely
manner. With the United States contribution of $280 million worth of aid, a
total of 370,000 metric tons of food has been delivered to the region,
bringing hope for the estimated 12.5 million people at risk of
shortages.

The six southern African nations are Malawi, Zimbabwe,
Lesotho, Zambia, Mozambique, and Swaziland.

The agencies say the food
crisis is the result of a combination of prolonged drought, chronic poverty,
bad governance and the ongoing devastation of HIV and AIDS.

"That
means fewer people who can be farmers. ...many of them are just weak, too
weak. nowadays to do traditional farming. And therefore it is not a crisis
that is going to disappear in the coming few years unfortunately, said
Jean-Jacques Graisse, the deputy executive director for the World Food
Program.

Among the six nations, Malawi and Zimbabwe are the worst
off, with an estimated 10 million people in need in food aid.

Despite
strained relations between the government of Zimbabwe, which earlier this
year refused to accept international food aid, and the World Food Program,
Mr. Graisse says he's confident a recent memorandum of understanding will
make it possible to get the aid to those who need it.

"We have good
working relations with the government in the sense that they have agreed
with us on how we can do food distributions through, in our case, mostly
through international NGO's, so that we know where the food goes, and there
is clear agreement that they won't interfere with our distributions," he
said.

But Mr. Hess acknowledges that while famine was averted this year,
the food situation in the southern African region is always precarious and
needs to monitored.

Without homes to call their own, Zimbabwe's poor
struggle

KILLARNEY, Zimbabwe -- Six months
after the government tore down her house, Sifelani Lunga lies sweating in a
dirt-floored shack on the same desolate stretch of mud. Just coming back has
made her a fugitive.

Like thousands of people dumped in rural areas after
the government razed squatter shacks and street stalls, she crept back to
the remains of this settlement outside Zimbabwe's second-largest city,
Bulawayo, because she could not survive in the countryside.As the
Zimbabwe government and United Nations argue about providing shelter for the
people who have been thrown out of their homes, thousands like Lunga have no
secure refuge and live in fear of police raids.

The UN's top humanitarian
affairs official, Jan Egeland, tried to persuade President Robert Mugabe
this month to accept tents for those left homeless after the government
implemented ''Operation Murambatsvina," a Shona phrase meaning ''clean out
the filth." The demolitions, which began in late May, destroyed the homes of
700,000 people and affected 2.4 million people, according to a critical UN
report.

''The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is extremely serious,
and it is deteriorating," Egeland told journalists after his visit this
month, describing the evictions as ''one of the worst things at the worst
possible moment in Zimbabwe."

But Mugabe told Egeland, ''We are not a
tents people. . . . We believe in houses," reported presidential spokesman
George Charamba, who was quoted in the state-owned Herald
newspaper.

The government has agreed, however, to accept food aid for 3
million hungry people, almost a quarter of the country's
population.

Zimbabwe announced a massive housing construction plan in the
aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina, but as December began only a few
hundred houses had been built and the program had ground to a halt. Human
Rights Watch said the program was unaffordable to the vast majority of
displaced people because it required proof of regular salary and payment of
a deposit.

After riot police and bulldozers destroyed houses in
Killarney, thousands of displaced people found shelter in the city's
churches until police evicted them again. They were sent to the countryside
in what critics call a campaign to dismantle the opposition's urban
support.

When Lunga, a 43-year-old widow with HIV, arrived in the village
she'd been exiled to, she found no food and no clinic. She struggled back to
the ruins of Killarney, along with hundreds of others, but she has no money
for transport to Bulawayo clinics or churches where food is handed out, and
is too ill to make the walk of nearly two hours.

She lay curled on a
ragged blanket on the dank ground in a smoky, leaking hut. She had a fever
and had been vomiting for three days.

Pastor Albert Chatindo of the
Christian Faith Fellowship Church is coordinating efforts to trace those
evicted and to feed the hungry, but he said the churches did not have enough
food or vehicles to feed those sent into the country.

''I see the
government has no love for the people. Since they moved them and dumped
them, they never followed up," he said. Chatindo said the demolitions
dismantled delicate social networks of support: Most people had no family or
friends in the rural areas they were sent to. Some had been rejected by
local chiefs.''People are not accepting them. They are accused of being
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change," he said referring to the
only significant opposition party, now bitterly split. ''People say to us,
'Why are you giving food and shelter to these people? They are not your
children.' "

In Bulawayo, churches are not allowed to distribute food to
the returning squatters.

''We can't take the food out there because
if we do, we're confronting the government structures. They must come and
collect it," he said. ''But we have defied the rules. I often take porridge
or mealie [corn] meal to the sick people. You have to save
lives."

There is a furtive and frightened atmosphere amid the scattered
makeshift huts that several hundred people have hastily thrown up in
Killarney and at the Ingozi mine outside Bulawayo.

Chatindo said the number
returning grows daily: ''People are flocking back here. They could not make
it where they were."

One who came back, Bernard Ncube, 52, has been
unemployed for 10 years. He used to scrape a living panning gold near
Killarney to feed his four children, but since the evictions there has been
no way to make money.

He was sent to Mbembesi village, about 50 miles
from Bulawayo, and stayed three months, but he had no relatives or friends
there and no work.

''It is far away. There was no way to live there. I
came back here to find money to buy food," he said, but he relies on
Bulawayo churches for food.

''If I could find a job. . . . " He trailed
off. ''But by now I can't get a job. I can't do anything."

Czech noble family defending their farm in
Zimbabwe

Prague Daily Monitor

PRAGUE, Dec 19 (CTK) - The family of former Czech noble woman
Elisabeth von Pezold, who is claiming the return of immense family property
in the Czech Republic, has so far resisted all efforts to expropriate their
farm and lands in Zimbabwe, the latest issue of the weekly Tyden
writes.

In the past few years, gangs of alleged "war veterans" have
forced dozens of white farmers to leave their property in Zimbabwe in fears
of death. It has led to a steep decline of the country's economy based on
farming as a tragic consequence of President Robert Mugabe's "land reform,"
the weekly says.

In mid-April 2000 tens of "veterans" invaded the
Pezolds' farm Forrester Estate, situated 100 kilometres north of Zimbabwe's
capital Harare, and they threatened with violence to make the family leave
their lands, Alzbeta Pezold's son Heinrich recalled.

Luckily, their
black employees armed with wooden sticks only defended the Pezolds and
pushed the intruders from the farm?.

The Pezold family employs
1,800-2,500 people at the farm covering 22-hectare area where they can live
with their families. The Pezolds have also built up four schools for their
employees' children. The family directly or indirectly provides work for a
total of 10,000 locals, Tyden writes.

That is why local workers are very
loyal to the Pezold family. If the farm were expropriated by veterans, they
would lose their jobs and would be expelled along with the white
farmers.

Nevertheless, "veterans" have already occupied several areas on
the Pezold land and the family must "coexist" with them. The occupants'
neglected plots are easy to recognise from the cultivated neat tobacco
fields and pastures run be the Pezold farm, Tyden says.

Heinrich, who
graduated from economics, history and philosophy, said he feels
understanding for their "new neighbours" who have to a certain extent become
"victims of propaganda and manipulations" and they suffered from hunger and
poverty.

The Pezolds bought the Forrester Estate farm in 1988 and they
invested high sums in its development, including the construction of large
water reservoirs of 27 million cubic metres that cost about six million
dollars, since the whole country is short of water sources.

The farm
is situated in the middle of a beautiful hilly landscape with picturesque
rocks and caves with some ancient native paintings preserved. However, the
Pezolds have no time to enjoy the romantic scenery as they have to fight
hard for survival every day.

The Pezolds, who hold German citizenship,
are among the now 24 German farmers in Zimbabwe. Berlin is doing the utmost
to protect their interests during Mugabe's regime.

Most of the German
farmers want to stay in this African country. They believe that the
situation will gradually improve. They usually bought their farms and
settled down in Zimbabwe after the country became independent, so veterans
cannot in their cases apply the practice of "just confiscations of
colonists' lands," Tyden points out.

Moreover, the German-Zimbabwe
agreement on the protection of investments plays into the farmers' hands, as
it gives them the right to a full financial compensation if their farms were
expropriated.

"We are enormously grateful to Germany. Were it not for its
embassy, we may have not existed at all," Heinrich's father, Ruediger
Pezold, told the weekly.

Heinrich said that they faced the first
attempts to drive them out from the land ten years ago and since then they
have regularly met with veterans' threats. Despite that they decided to
resist.

Ruediger admits he cherishes hope in Zimbabwe's judiciary system,
recalling that the Supreme Court decided in their favour three times,
calling all attempts to expropriate their farm illegal.

"It costs a
lot of efforts and tomorrow anything can happen, but you must decide to hold
on. Hold on and not to run away!" Ruediger stressed, adding that 83 white
farmers from the surroundings have given it up and their nearest white
neighbour lives 60 kilometres away.

The Pezolds are not willing to give
up either their farm in Zimbabwe or the family property in the Czech Lands
confiscated after WW2. Elisabeth von Pezold, heiress of the Schwarzenberg-
Pezold noble family, has since 1992 led a number of restitution disputes,
claiming the family estate in the Czech Republic, including famous chateaus
in UNESCO-listed Cesky Krumlov and Hluboka, south Bohemia, and two palaces
near Prague Castle.

So far their pictures at least decorate the walls of
the Pezolds' Forrester Estate in Zimbabwe, Tyden writes in
conclusion.

hol/dr/rtj

This story copyright 2005 CTK Czech News
Agency.The Prague Daily Monitor and Monitor CE are not responsible for its
content.

Zimbabwe introduces road tolls

People's Daily

†††††
Zimbabwean Minister of Transport and Communications Christopher Mushohwe
said on Monday that the government would soon introduce road tolls at all
border posts, a development that would see motorists being charged at entry
and exit points of the country.

††††† The fees will apply to both local
and foreign-registered vehicles that use the country's border posts,
according to the minister.

††††† South Africa-registered lighter vehicles
using the country's border posts would have to pay 30 rand (about 4.6 US
dollars) per entry and a similar figure when exiting while the Botswana-
registered lighter vehicles would be charged 25 pula (about 4 dollars) per
entry and exit.

††††† Other foreign-registered vehicles would be required
to pay 5 US dollars per entry and exit.

††††† For local light
vehicles using the country's border posts, a charge of 150,000 Zimbabwean
dollars (about 2 US dollars) would apply with local heavy vehicles paying
300,000 Zimbabwean dollars (about 4 US dollars).

††††† "We are still
carrying out infrastructural work before we start charging tollgate fees for
our local cities, and in three or so months time we should start charging
tollgate fees for the major cities," said the minister.

††††† "The
money that we would be charging would be used to rehabilitate and maintain
those roads," he said.

††††† Fee levels for foreign-registered heavy
vehicles that have already been paying the charge would be determined by
load and distance.

††††† The introduction of levies has been a burning
issue with parliamentarians having to question Deputy Minister of Transport
and Communication Hubert Nyanhongo in the House in August this year on
progress over the matter.

††††† The deputy minister assured them then
that preparations were at an advanced stage.

††††† Road tolls would
go a long way in improving road maintenance, particularly the highways,
where the fee would be chargeable.

††††† The system is used in many
developed countries and others on the continent such as South Africa where
motorists driving on major highways pay at certain points for the
maintenance of the roads.

††††† Several towns and cities, including
Harare and Masvingo, have had long-standing plans to introduce road tolls,
which is a common feature in other countries but a relatively new concept in
Zimbabwe.

Beitbridge pile-up nightmare for travellers

New Zimbabwe

By
Lebo NkatazoLast updated: 12/20/2005 17:58:39THOUSANDS of holiday
travelers have been left stranded at the Beitbridge border post after South
African customs officials got overwhelmed by the number of people entering
and exiting Zimbabwe.

Tempers were running high at the Beitbridge border
post in Limpopo, the SABC reported Sunday.

Motorists wanting to enter
Zimbabwe were having to wait in long queues while their documents are
processed. Some travellers told the public broadcaster they have been
waiting more than 24 hours.

A reporter on the scene said stationary
vehicles stretched back some 12km from the frontier.

On Monday, South
African officials said an additional 12 customs officials had been rushed to
the busy border post to help clear the backlog.

Nkosana Sibuyi, the home
affairs spokesperson, says this time of the year always poses a
challenge.

He said customs authorities were continuing to try to
normalise the situation.

South Africa is Zimbabwe's biggest trade
neighbour. South African officials estimate that there is close to 2,5
million Zimbabweans on their soil - most of them illegal immigrants fleeing
Zimbabwe's economic decline.

Bail for 'thieving' Zanu PF editor

New Zimbabwe

By Lebo
NkatazoLast updated: 12/20/2005 18:01:07THE editor of the official
newspaper for Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party has been bailed by a
magistrate after appearing in court charged with theft by
conversion.

Lovemore Mataire, editor of The Voice and close
confidante of Zimbabwe's ruling elite is accused of diverting $6 million
from the publication into his personal savings account over a period of 14
months.

State prosecutors say Mataire instructed the newspaper's street
vendors to deposit money generated through sales into his personal account
between April 2004 and October 2005.

Harare magistrate Robin Mzyece
released the journalist on $500 000 bail and ordered him to return to court
on January 3, 2006.

State prosecutor, Blessing Mhande, told the court
Thursday that Mataire instructed vendors to deposit money realised from
sales into his Central African Building Society (CABS), which he went on to
withdraw and use.

Since he took over the editorship of the paper two
years ago, Mataire has found himself at the end of accusations of not being
up to the task.

In one scathing attack, President Robert Mugabe's
spokesman George Charamba savaged the former Herald reporter, calling him a
"failed and incompetent editor who makes spectacular political and editorial
goofs".

Mataire, who escaped prosecution two years ago after causing the
death of a Central Intelligence Officer in an accident while driving a Zanu
PF car is said to enjoy the support of Zanu PF's information supremo, Nathan
Shamuyarira.

Soldiers to become farmers in Zim food crisis

IOL

††† Basildon
Peta††††††††† December 20 2005 at 09:48AM

††††† The Zimbabwean
government has begun to deploy thousands of soldiers to state-owned
commercial farms where they are expected to produce food under a new farming
operation called "command agriculture".

††††† Following his unprecedented
admission that his land-grab policies had not ensured food security,
President Robert Mugabe told Zanu-PF's annual conference recently that the
government should now be at the forefront of agriculture.

†††††
Officials in the Zimbabwe National Army said more than 5 000 soldiers would
be deployed on farms owned by the state-owned Agricultural and Rural
Development Agency (Arda) to produce food under a plan called Operation Food
Security.

††††† They said the deployment had already started on farms
in the three Mashonaland provinces and in
Manicaland.

††††† "We have a professional army with
multi-skilled officers in engineering, agriculture, construction and many
other sectors of the economy. Whenever there is a disaster, the army is
called upon by the government to intervene and help the civilian operation,"
said an army officer who did not want to be named.

††††† "It goes
without saying that there is a crisis in the country - a serious food crisis
- and it only makes sense that the government wants to use the army's
expertise to ameliorate this situation.

††††† "We are not at war and have
all the time to work on farms."

††††† Officials in the army's public
relations directorate did not return calls for comment.

††††† But
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is also in charge of land reform
and food-aid distribution, has confirmed and defended the use of soldiers in
farming in an interview with a Zimbabwean publication.

††††† "They (the
army) have been helping in other government operations. The army has
agricultural experts and the manpower, and we are sure they will come in
handy," Mutasa said.

††††† It is understood that the government plans to
re-confiscate some of the under-utilised farms allocated to mostly
government supporters and put them under the army's control.

†††††
Mugabe has already expressed frustration with what he calls "cellphone
farmers", whom he says have not put their allocated land to good
use.

††††† But farming experts are pessimistic.

††††† A chief
executive at a major farming supplies company dismissed the plan as "an
indirect admission of failure".

††††† He said: "I don't exactly
understand why they think they can convert soldiers into farmers." -
Independent Foreign Service

††††† This article was originally
published on page 2 of The Star on December 20, 2005

'More should be done' for Zim

News24

20/12/2005 08:04† -
(SA)

Copenhagen - Denmark, a non-permanent member of the UN Security
Council, on Monday called on the African Union and the Southern African
Development Community to step up the search for a solution to the
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

"We would like to make it clear that
we call on the African Union and SADC to become more involved in finding a
solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig
Moeller said ahead of a Security Council meeting on Africa.

According
to the United Nations, some 700 000 Zimbabweans were left homeless or
without income or both, while another 2.4 million were affected in varying
degrees during a house demolition campaign that began in May and ended in
July this year.

Zimbabwe police and recruits used bulldozers and
sledgehammers to demolish shacks, homes, market stalls and small businesses
in poor areas across the country during what was dubbed Operation
Murambatsvina, or "Drive Out Trash".

"I would ... like to urge
President (Robert) Mugabe to allow the UN to hand out food aid," Moeller
said on Monday, adding that Zimbabwe was in the grips of a "human-made
catastrophe with serious human rights abuses".

Zimbabwe is in a severe
economic crisis, with some 80% of the population living under the poverty
threshold, more than 70% jobless and inflation running at over
400%.

The United Nations estimates that some 4.3 million Zimbabweans are
in need of food aid.

CIO To Be Deployed To High Schools To Curb Exam
Fraud

Zim Daily

††††††††††† Tuesday, December 20 2005 @ 12:49 AM GMT†††††††††††
Contributed by: correspondent††††††††††† Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) agents will next year be deployed to secondary schools around the
country to investigate and eradicate corruption and fraud in the Zimsec O
and A Level examinations. Education ministry sources said CIO spies would be
used to infiltrate syndicates trading in illegal and leaked exam material.
Zimdaily heard that the agents will among other things "monitor certain
schools in order to expose individuals and syndicates involved in illegal
trade of exam related material."

††††††††††† Education ministry
permanent secretary Stephen Mahere could neither confirm nor deny that CIO
spies would be unleashed on schools but said it was "standard procedure" to
conduct security clearance and that other security measures were
confidential. Top Education ministry sources said an army of CIO spies would
be deployed to carry out security clearance on all invigilators. Zimdaily
heard that other agents would be assigned to Chester House, Zimsec's Harare
offices, to monitor the storage and movement of exam
material.

††††††††††† The move is in line with recommendations made by an
unnamed "exams quality assurer" enlisted by the Education ministry during
the November final exams to monitor the running of the exams. The explosive
report, shown to zimdaily, among other things cites laxity of invigilation,
a high prevalence of exam fraud and general decline in the standard of
exams. The damning report, also implicates 73 schools including 21 private
schools in irregularities related to exam invigilation. Some of the schools
were found guilty of allowing pupils to cheat on their
exams.

††††††††††† The dossier slams the "improper invigilation" and
"general sloppiness" in exam management and recommends the trawling of
security measures in the management of exams. Reports abound of leaked exam
papers ever since Zimbabwe localised its O and A Level exams. In fact
statistics reveal a growing number of teachers barred from conducting
marking for the next five years. Several people have been jailed for leaking
exam papers while others have been fired after being caught engaged in
irregularities, zimdaily heard.

Exclusive: The Letter That Made Harare Back Down On
Passport Seizure

††††††††††† Last week we
revealed how Acting President Joseph Msika was pressured by South African
President Thabo Mbeki to climb down on the controversial passport seizure
regulation. For the sake of our readers, zimdaily exclusively reveals the
letter sent to Mbeki lobbying him to intervene in the passport seizure case.
Please note that the letter was also copied to the European Commission
President Josť Manuel Barroso, UN secretary general Kofi Annan and the World
Bank president John Wolfowitz.

††††††††††† H.E. Thabo
Mbeki††††††††††† President of South Africa††††††††††† The
Presidency††††††††††† Union Buildings, West Wing††††††††††† Government
Avenue††††††††††† Pretoria 0001††††††††††† Republic of South
Africa

††††††††††† Fax: (+ 2712) 323 82 46 / 2573

†††††††††††
Vienna, 14 December 2005

††††††††††† Your Excellency,

†††††††††††
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors,
leading journalists and media executives in over 110 countries, invites you
to use your office to raise the issue of press freedom in neighbouring
Zimbabwe at the highest levels of the Zimbabwean government. In particular,
IPI calls on Your Excellency to express the concerns of the South African
government and the wider international community at the confiscation of
publisher Trevor Ncube's passport and the growing evidence that the
Zimbabwean government intends to target a list of around 60 people in the
same manner under an amendment to the Zimbabwean
Constitution.

††††††††††† The list of those apparently targeted is a
disturbing roll call of individuals committed to defending press freedom and
freedom of expression within Zimbabwe. They include editors and journalists,
human rights lawyers, poets and politicians. All of them risk having their
passports and travel documents confiscated by the authorities for merely
attempting to travel. The Zimbabwean government's decision to act in this
manner represents not only an effective ban on free movement, but is also
strong evidence of its desire to persecute and confine those who have
struggled hardest to maintain a semblance of freedom of expression within
the country. When examining the dire situation in Zimbabwe, IPI is convinced
that Your Excellency and the South African government must now show the
necessary leadership in this increasingly worrying
matter.

††††††††††† It is IPI's opinion that Your Excellency and the
South African government are uniquely positioned to provide this leadership.
Given South Africa's modern history of overthrowing apartheid, and its many
brutalities and intimidations, no other country in Southern Africa is better
placed to remind the Zimbabwean government of the need to uphold fundamental
human rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression. Moreover, while
subtle diplomacy has its place, IPI believes that, as the pressures on the
media and many others increase almost daily, the time has now come for Your
Excellency to forcibly speak out and to give effective leadership to others
in their own condemnation of these repressive actions.

††††††††††† At
the IPI 43rd Annual Assembly in 1993, your predecessor, President Nelson
Mandela, when addressing the IPI Congress, said, "A critical, independent
and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be
free from state interference." Later in the same year, when writing in the
U.S. journal Foreign Affairs, President Mandela wrote, "South Africa's
future foreign relations will be based on our belief that human rights
should be the core concern of international relations, and we are ready to
play a role in fostering peace and prosperity in the world we share with the
community of nations."

††††††††††† IPI believes that President Mandela's
words represent statements of intent to be applied by the South African
government everywhere, including Zimbabwe, where the "lifeblood" of the
independent press has been thinned by persistent and repressive state
interference. It should also be recognised that a failure to take a
committed stance on the matter of freedom of expression in Zimbabwe also has
potential risks for South Africa. Throughout the world, a free and
independent media operates as a barometer of national events. Taking into
account the grave economic conditions within Zimbabwe, there is a danger
that, without a free media to give warning, a sudden crisis will occur that
could have an unforeseen impact on South Africa.

††††††††††† Since
its formation in 1950, IPI has supported freedom of expression within South
Africa and we are proud that the long years of apartheid have given way to
the open policies of a democratic government committed to upholding human
rights. However, we invite Your Excellency to think back to a time when
there remained an urgent need for vocal and forcible international
condemnation of apartheid and it was not always
forthcoming.

††††††††††† As in yesteryear, there is now a growing
need for international condemnation of the repressive actions of a single
country and we urge Your Excellency to take the lead by coordinating this
action, thereby reminding the world that South Africa supports the right of
ordinary citizens in every country to express themselves without fear of
intimidation.

14 African leaders to witness Tanzanian presidential
swear-in

††††††††† DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 20 (Xinhuanet) --
Thirteen presidents and one king all from Africa will witness the swear-in
by the next Tanzanian president on Wednesday, according to a Foreign
Ministry statement.

††††††††† The Tanzanian Foreign Ministry, whose
incumbent portfolio chiefis most likely the candidate to be announced as the
president-elect, said that these heads of state would come from Botswana,
Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi,
Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe.

††††††††† The king will come from Lesotho while the Namibian
prime minister and Swazi deputy prime minister are among the dozens of other
dignitaries that include foreign ministers and special envoys from such
institutions as the African Union, the East African Community, the Southern
African Development Community and the World Bank.

††††††††† China,
the United States, Egypt, Japan and South Korea are sending their special
well-wishers to Tanzania for Wednesday's swear-in ceremony.

†††††††††
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete has been returned as the
leader of the presidential polls, with 80.23 percent of the total valid
votes cast last Wednesday to his credit.

††††††††† His nearest rival was
Ibrahim Haruna Lipumba representing the country's largest opposition party
of Civic United Front with 11.61 percent of the total votes under his
tally.

††††††††† Tanzania last Wednesday held its third multiparty
general elections with 72.28 percent of the 16,399,169 registered voters
having turned out to cast their ballots. Enditem

Zimbabwe bans jatropha tree exports

People's Daily

††††† The Zimbabwean Agriculture Ministry has banned its
jatropha tree export and adopted the tree along with cassava as major
development crops for the next five years, according to a local press report
on Tuesday.

††††† Joseph Made, the minister of agriculture, said on
Monday his ministry would also work to increase production of sugarcane,
castor bean and soy bean, as it seeks to develop crops which can be used to
develop bio-fuel.

††††† "This means that the crops, which we are calling
new crops, will be developed with great vigor and a lot of energy will be
put in the planting, marketing and funding of the crops," he
said.

††††† "Special emphasis will, however, be placed on jatropha
because of the quantity of bio-fuel it can produce," said Made.

†††††
"In addition, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) will become the
sole buyer of the crop while the Grain Marketing Board will be involved in
the distribution of the seeds because we want them to be distributed
widely," said the minister.

††††† He said although the country had
conducted some useful research on jatropha, a team of agronomists and
researchers would be sent to India, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic
of the Congo for further explore the optimum capacity of the
plant.

††††† He said his ministry would begin vigorously promoting the
crop next year, adding that they were already making budgetary
considerations for the campaign.

††††† Jatropha is a shrub-like tree
which grows naturally in all regions of the country. Its seed have between
30 and 40 percent oil content, which has great potential in bio-diesel
production.

††††† Cassava, which has also been targeted for development,
is rich in starch and ethanol. It is a high-energy plant, which is suitable
for both human and animal consumption.

San fight attempts to move them

The Mercury

††††† Botswana's
hunter-gatherers want to stay in spite of others' plans to build a game
reserve and possibly do some diamond mining on their ancestral land†††††
December 20, 2005

††††† For more than 20 000 years, clans of
hunter-gathers have survived in central Botswana's stark desert plains. Now,
a handful are left, locked in a bitter dispute over their right to remain in
what has been declared a wildlife reserve.

††††† Botswana's efforts
to remove two small ethnic Basarwa communities from the Central Kalahari
Game Reserve is the latest chapter in a long history of dislocation and
loss. Government officials argue that the Basarwas' changing lifestyle is
incompatible with wildlife conservation. They want the last holdouts -
estimated at just 30 - to be resettled where they can access modern services
such as schools and clinics.

††††† Basarwa activists accuse the
government of forcing them off their ancestral land at gunpoint to make way
for diamond mining - charges denied by authorities. Letsema Tshotlego, a
member of the First People of the Kalahari group, said he left the reserve
in October to seek medical help for his grandmother and had not been allowed
back.

††††† "It hurts," he said, touching his heart. "My whole life is
there. A person never forgets where he comes from."

††††† Tshotlego's
people, who speak a variety of the distinctive "click" languages, were the
original inhabitants of a vast area stretching from the tip of South Africa
to the Zambezi valley in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Their rock paintings, wildlife
knowledge and ability to survive in one of the harshest environments on
Earth have fascinated scholars. They were even the subject of a hit movie,
The Gods must be crazy. Also known as San or Bushmen, they were driven to
near extinction by tribes that started pushing south from central Africa
about 1 500 years ago and the Europeans who followed 350 years
ago.

††††† The settlers took the most fertile land and the Basarwa
retreated into the Kalahari. Only an estimated 100 000 are left today, most
living in poverty on society's fringes. British colonial authorities set up
the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 1961 to protect an area surprisingly
rich in wildlife and a fast disappearing way of life.

†††††
Vehicles

††††† Botswana supported traditional communities after
independence in 1966, providing water, food and mobile clinics. With time,
however, once-nomadic families began building permanent settlements, raising
goats and planting crops. Instead of hunting on foot, their bows and arrows
tipped with poison, they started using horses and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
The meat once shared among the community was dried and sold as
biltong.

††††† By 1985, wildlife officials were worried about
environmental damage, while district administrators were complaining about
the cost of bringing services to the remote settlements. It was decided to
consolidate the Basarwa in villages outside the reserve where they could
"enjoy the fruits of independence", said Ringo Ipoteng, council secretary in
the district that includes the park. About 2 000 Basarwa had relocated since
1997, most persuaded by the offer of livestock and financial compensation,
he said.

††††† Pogiso Ithuteng was among the first to leave, drawn by
the promise of education for his children. He now heads the village
committee in Kaudwane and uses his tracking skills to help tag leopards and
lions in the reserve.

††††† "We can still teach our children to hunt. We
can still teach our children which wild fruits to gather," he said. "What
can't we do?"††††† Others, however, quickly became disillusioned with life
in the bleak, concrete block village on the reserve's southern edge. There
is a clinic, school, piped water and toilets. Job training is offered, but
most of the more than 500 residents rely on government handouts. Alcoholism,
prostitution and Aids are growing concerns. A small outdoor tavern is full
of people whiling away long, sweltering hours playing cards and drinking
beer under the trees.

††††† Prison

††††† Monday Mokwena tried
farming, but says little grows in the sandy soil. He wants to go back to the
reserve, but is afraid of armed paramilitary police.

††††† "There we
were free," he said, sipping tea from a tin cup outside a traditional
shelter made of thatch and branches.

††††† "Here we feel like we are in
prison."

††††† As resistance mounted, officials adopted strong-arm
tactics. Food and water distribution were stopped and hunting licences
withdrawn in the reserve. Survival International, a British-based group
campaigning for indigenous peoples around the world, accuses officials of
beatings and torture - charges angrily denied by the government. In
September authorities closed the park's southern and central sections,
saying this was necessary to keep a skin disease from spreading from
domestic goats to wildlife. Tshotlego said his family's goats were trucked
away. Relatives outside the reserve were barred from bringing food and
water.

††††† Police acknowledge they fired rubber bullets at Basarwa
activists trying to break through their blockades in October. One person was
shot in the jaw and another in the leg, witnesses say. Underlining the
increasingly bitter conflict is the possibility that diamonds glitter
beneath the shifting sands. Survival International has backed a legal case
by about 240 Basarwa accusing the government of destroying their traditional
way of life to make way for mining, which accounts for three quarters of
Botswana's export earnings.

††††† It has also urged an international
boycott of the De Beers diamond giant, which along with the government
controls Botswana mines.††††† Officials say all mineral rights already
belong to the government, and the scattered Basarwa communities are unlikely
to get in the way of production in an area the size of Switzerland. The case
will resume in February.